Lead with Hospitality: Be Human. Emotionally Connect. Serve Selflessly.
Taylor Scott
Matt Holt Books/An Imprint of BenBella Books (April 2021)

How to connect with, serve, engage with, and inspire those whom you are privileged to lead

In 1970, Robert K. Greenleaf published an essay (“Servant Leadership”) that has since had a major impact on leadership development throughout the world. Here is a brief excerpt:

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.

“The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants to others? And, what is the effect on the least- privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?“

All of the best self-help books focus on HOW to achieve specific objectives in order to accelerate personal growth and professional development. That is especially true of Lead with Hospitality in which Taylor Scott shares what he has learned from his wide and deep experience in the hospitality industry.

Whatever their size and nature may be, all organizations need high-impact leadership at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise. In countless surveys of hundreds of thousands of employees, when asked what was of greatest importance to them in their workplace culture, a substantial majority responded “feeling appreciated.”

It is no coincidence that companies annually ranked among those most highly-regarded and best to work for are also annually ranked among companies that are most profitable, with the greatest cap value in their industry segment.

Lead with Hospitality is a must-read for all executives, especially those with direct reports. Taylor Scott provides an abundance of invaluable information, insights, and counsel that can help prepare almost anyone to become a high-impact leader. The same material can then help them to help others to become a high-impact leader.

As I worked my way through this remarkable book, I realized that AI could probably absorb and digest the material but only a human being could apply it effectively and — over time — modify and improve it.

Consider also the value of this insight from Theodore Roosevelt: “People won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Lead with Hospitality is a brilliant achievement but its ultimate value can only be determined by the nature and extent of what it enables you to achieve in months and years to come.